Appears a hazy, copper toned amber with a small, off-white head that fades into a fizzy collar. Streaks of lacing is left around the glass.
Smell is of malty, sourdough, mild fruit, caramel, raw maple, with a off note that is a bit vegetal.
Taste is of the same aromas. There's the doughy, caramel infused broccoli again that I'm just not digging. What the hell is that? It's like an odd astringency that's in there by accident. The sweet malts seem to be coving up for it's inadequacies, nonetheless.
Mouthfeel is crisp, medium bodied, and slightly thin. This was one of the few Oktoberfests we found in the store during our weekend at The Jersey Shore. Even the wife was kind of let down with this, as it's one of her favorite styles. Overall, it's just sort of unexciting, and ho-hum.
It's supposed to be a celebration, bitches! (836 characters)

A- This beer pours a deep golden brown body that is crystal clear with a strong carbonation of big bubbles. There is a thick creamy head that you could write your name in and still read it half way through the beer.

S- This beer has a smooth soft pale malt smell with notes of raw grain and a light sweetness and freshness. There is a light green leaf hint in the finish.

T- This beer has a light pale malt flavor with some light toasted malt with a stronger club soda flavor. The light green hop note is dry and a faint bitterness only comes after the finish.

M- This beer has a light mouthfeel with a tight fizz at the finish.

D- This beer has light flavor with some depth but not much. The flavor was ok but I just got tired of drinking it about half way through the glass. (812 characters)

Purchased a bottle at Wine Gallery, Brookline. Poured into a stemmed glass. Faded peach color. Attractive looking and moderately carbonated. Average sized head. A bit malty in the smell, but not too noticeable. Tasted like an average Oktoberfest beer, balanced and straightforward German. What I disliked about this beer was the mouthfeel. Very sticky on the palate and on the aftertaste. Needs to be cleaned up. I can drink this beer, no issue there, but I would not particularly enjoy more than one of these. (510 characters)

Mouthfeel is medium...creamy...not crisp and clean though...more of an ale mouthfeel...

Taste is OK, but a little different than most O-fests....soem toasted grains but also some yeasty (banana) like notes....almost like an Octoberfest version of a hefe...

Overall I'd drink this again if someone bought it for me, but if given the chance I would drink many other O-fests before this...I'm kind of disapointed because I had high expectations for this... (576 characters)

Hazy apricot color with a big, foamy head that sticks around for a while and then gives way to a light ring at the top. Scents are rather sweet but unremarkable, a descriptor I would use for the taste as well. The flavors here (including tinges of alcohol and citrus) lack integration in this medium-bodied brew. Mouthfeel and drinkability are fine but not particularly noteworthy. (384 characters)

pours a cloudy orange with a nice white head. smells of caramels and sweetness. big malt against a hop bitterness that does not quite equal out. the malt reigns supreme making this beer a little too sweet and finishes with a little hit of spice. nice smooth texture though make up for some of the unbalanced flavors, but not enough. this is my first year with ayinger, so i dont know if it has been better in the past, but this is nothing to write home about. it is decent. (473 characters)

A: Pours a slightly hazy golden with a massive foamy head. Good retention with lots of lacing.

S: Aromas of sweet malt, lemon zest, and honey.

T: Sweet and malty with some buttery notes. A bit lacking in overall taste.

M: Light in body with fine. The carbonation is odd - on the first pour into the glass, it was hyper and abrasive; the second pour into the glass and half waythrough the bottle, there was little carbonation, and the beer was sort of flat.

Pours medium-pale amber with a very light tan collar of foam with a very lengthy half-life. Lacing is around 40% and clarity is superb.

The nose is sweet toasty caramel malt backed by very little in the way of hop presence (as is true to the style). Entry is subdued carbonation with the richly toasted caramel malts holding court on the center stage. Hops make a brief appearance in the finish, only to be beaten into submission by another caramel-80 baseball bat.

Classic German Taste from a brewery that doesn't always command respect. Pass the gouda... (562 characters)

500 ml bottle with no freshness date - served chilled in a pilsner glass. Pours a clear toasted amber color with a 2 finger tan head that recedes slowly and leaves some initial lace. Smells of dark/toasted malts and some hops. The taste is the same with spicy/green hops and some metal with a bit of a vinous quality that makes me wonder if it's a fresh bottle. It has a medium body with medium carbonation and, if it is fresh, there's not enough toasted malts or hop presence in my opinion. (491 characters)

A: A 500 ml bottle that pours 2/3 beer and 1/3 white rocky head. Body is a light brassy orange that's clear enough to read a fine print newspaper through. The head dwindles for the most part, but a bit hangs around to watch me drink.

S: Sweet and a little cider-like. Malts almost smell unfermented, like a non-alchy. Very floral scents with a little warmth.

T: A good grain backbone, bready munich malts get it started. The hops really retain a subservient role in the mouth, choosing to stay in the nose. Still get that sweet wort feel though.

M: Medium body with medium to high carbonation. A little oily on the lips.

D: I was really hoping for a true Bavarian marzen, but I have to say I was a little let down by this. Maybe bottle form is not the way to go with this beer. Ayinger will be at the Brewer's Jam in Knoxville tomorrow, so hopefully I will be able to review a tap version of this beer there. (912 characters)

I have a lot of respect for Ayinger and love most of their beers. Somehow though the magic does come through for me with this one.

Poured a 2" yellow tinged head and the body had a lovely clear deep gold color. In the looks department it's a winner.

Next to no smell from mine. In fact even after fully room temperature I could pick up next to nothing. Maybe a little malt.

Taste is pretty much in the lager/pilsner realm, light and easy drinking, just a touch more in the mouthfeel. Again there's a little malt, and maybe a whisper of the cocoa butter I sometimes pickup from Marzens. But honestly, in a blind taste testing I'd probably rank this higher than a BMC but not by much, and I guess I expected so much more. (722 characters)

Pours out a nice honey gold, crowned with a thin white hed. The nose gives off some soy and orange. Very straightforward taste, a pleasing light malt flavor, slightly bready. A light crisp mouthfeel, and a pleasent clean finish. Nothing great about this beer, but it's a good session beer that can go all night long. (316 characters)

A nice break from the ales I've been having recently.Light cloudy pour that cleared up a bit later; golden and a bit pale. big head, died down slowly yet considerably. Floral nose with slight spices. Hints of citrus but not much. A bit bready and somewhat skunked.Crisp feeling to it. A bit clingy on the end. Sweet and floral, again citrus is just off the edge. Creaminess is odd, but I'm a hophead.Refreshing beer, would like to see the creaminess go away. (462 characters)

UPDATED: AUG 27, 2010 500ml bottle, fresh 2010 batch. No gusher this time. Pours clear amber with a bit of copper/red and a nice sized off white head, recedes pretty quickly to a tiny ring, just a few spots of lacing. Moderate strength aroma of toasted malts, caramel, some fruit, apple, a bit of floral hops. Flavor features some toasted, caramel malt sweetness that is well balanced with some earthy and a touch spicy hops. Finishes relatively dry. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, oily and a bit sticky, medium carbonation.

Original review Dec 28, 2009:500ml bottle. A gusher. Pours amber with a two finger white head. Nice aroma, floral hops, some malt sweetness. Flavor is a little more subdued, light floral and citrus hops, some sweetness and bitterness playing together nicely on the finish.. Medium to high carbonation. Refreshing and easy-drinking. Oh, and one of the coolest bottle caps I've ever seen.Appearance 3.0, Smell 3.5, Taste 3.5, Mouthfeel 3.0, Drinkability 3.5, Score 3.35 (992 characters)

Poured this into a pint glass. The beer is clear amber color with visible carbonation and a thick frothy looking white head that dissipates leaving soapy lacing all along the side. The smell is toasty malts and minimal hops to be found. Hints of vanilla and tea peer through. If Autumn has a smell, this is certainly it. Big malt flavor that mostly overshadows everything else. Slightly biscuity and with a slight bitter finish. The taste is leaving me somewhat underwhelmed. The mouthfeel isn't as lively as I had expected, with the carbonation so visible I'm surprised by the lack of it in my mouth. This is smooth and leaves me with a buttery kind of sensation on my buds. I'll be able to drink this just fine but it certainly isn't my favorite. Very unlikely I'll snag this again. (784 characters)

Pours a crystal clear pumpkin amber color. Autumn leaves come to mind when I think about it. Tons of bubbly visible carbonation and very small quickly fleeting head.

The smell is pretty faint, what I can smell is mildly sweet malt. Being somewhat toasty, the somewhat noticeable alcohol works to crisp up the nose a tinge.

Tastes just like what it is, malt, hops and water. This brew is VERY unoffensive, sweet toasty cracker like malt flavors dance a jig on your tongue. The flavors are very even all the way through the swallows, and it finishes with a minuscule spice that is very welcome.

Mouthfeel is as thin as I anticipated and the finish is very crisp and refreshing.

Fill up Das Boot and let me pound it. I could drink gallons of this stuff. Thin crisp and balanced, in a good way. (795 characters)

eyes...this pops out of the bottle like a 16 year old popping a broad for the first time, golden brown with an amber hue, the head fades quickly, lots of carbonation keeps what little head there is alive, lacing is spotty, the brew is pretty clear, an average looking brew

nose...strong brown honey musty note, herbal hops with some biscuit notes on the end, distant lemon notes enter the fray, mostly you get the malt as the dominate player here, bad

taste etc...much like the nose this is sweet malt forward, pretty hefty weight wise, the carbonation is prickly (I would actually like a smidge more bite here), the hops have a slight bittering but mostly herbal almost slightly medicinal flavor to them, nothing great, nothing offensive

A) Sun-faded amber with gold and brown highlights. Thin head to start; just a wisp overall. Clear. No retention or lace.

S) Clean, fairly bright aroma. Smooth bready malts with a dash of dustiness on the back end. Mild overtones of fruit.

T) Huh, it's pretty malty to taste but has a flavor that is right in line with the aftertaste of pumpkin pie (well, at least the first sip). From there it turns to more straightforward bready malts and a hints of fruit juiciness. Hints of earth on the finish.

M) The feel has a kind of medium center and thin edges. Moderate carbonation falls off as the beer opens up.

D) It's nice to have something calm every once and a while. (708 characters)

Appearance: Pours a well-carbonated copper with great clarity. A foamy tan head starts at a full finger deep and retains well with good lacing.

Smell: The aroma is sweet and malty with a huge toasted malt note. There's also a slight grassy smell.

Taste: Intially, the flavor is sweet and malty. But as the flavor opens up, what takes over is a harsh astringency that dries out my mouth. Small suggestion of coarse grain husks. There's a fair dose of bready, toasted malt, but it gets buried under the harshness, which cuts the aftertaste short.

Mouthfeel: What starts as smooth and crisp, quickly turns dry and astringent. Disappointing...

Drinkability: Not that great... It seems like some astrigency was picked up somewhere in the brewing process. Too long of a mash? Sparge water too warm?

This brew is quite a disappointment considering the source. I might guess that age has something to do with the off flavors, but it's not a cardboardy, oxidation flavor that's the problem. (996 characters)

Poured amber with a generous head that quickly faded. The aroma was a little skunky, but did not put me off as I usually lose the aroma early anyway. The taste is sweet, bland and a little bananaish (if I may use that non word). This one was medium bodied with a small amount of carbonation left over from the head. Drinkability above average, because the beer is above average. Too be honest, even after moving the lawn, I'd rather have any number of lagers rated lower. (471 characters)